A Hidden Magic (10 page)

Jennifer had no feeling of movement, but she could suddenly see dim colors and shapes about her. In another second they were standing in the cottage where she and Alexander had spent the night.

In fact, there before them was the sprawled form of the prince just as she had left him.

Malveenya went over and sat daintily on his chest. She looked up in time to catch Norman twitching his beard and making a gesture with this head. Jennifer obviously had no idea what he was trying to say, but Malveenya became annoyed anyway.

"Enough of that," she warned. "Keep still or I'll turn you into something incredibly nasty."

"It doesn't matter," Jennifer said.

"What?" the other two said at the same time, although Norman's voice cracked a bit.

"I've made my decision. I can't set you loose on the other side of the wall. No matter what you do, I won't help you."

"I'm afraid you don't understand, my dear," Malveenya said. "How would you like both your friends asleep forever? Why, look at this!" She leaned over and made a brushing motion over Alexander. "Dusty already. How would you like to spend the rest of your life alone in this cottage? No one to talk to, nowhere to go, nothing to do. Just you, the
cottage, and two snoring dust collectors for the rest of your life.

"Or how would you like me to make you older than Norman here? Dry bones that crackle when you walk, back that hurts when it's going to rain, white hair, yellow teeth—-or maybe no teeth at all—what man do you think would love you then?

"I could turn you into a fish and hold you half an inch above the water you need to live. Or I could turn you into a hairy spider and squash you. Why, I could even turn you into a bat's shadow and send you home. Then you'd be flitting about the ceiling making sad little squeaking noises and none of your friends or family would even know it's you.

"This is just off the top of my head, you realize. If I set my mind to it for a while, I'm sure I could come up with something better."

"I'm sure you could," Jennifer said, somewhat shakily. "But il you can do horrible things to us, you could do them to the people
on the other side of the wall, too, and I can't help you do that."

"I suppose I could try to bribe you," Malveenya said. "Make you good-looking or rich or something. But rewarding loyalty isn't anywhere near as much fun as punishing disloyalty. Is it, Kreech?"

Still holding them, the buzzard-man made a movement as if ruffling his feathers, and Malveenya laughed heartily. Belonging to anyone else, it would have been rich, easy laughter—the kind that's catching. But Malveenya always laughed alone.

While her attention seemed elsewhere, Norman put his arm behind his back and tried to reach around Kreech.

Malveenya jumped to her feet. "I already warned you once!" she screamed. Lowering her voice, she said, "You can let them go now, Kreech." She motioned Jennifer to come closer.

"Turn around," she ordered. "Watch your precious Norman. I'm going to melt him down into a little slimy puddle."

"No!" Jennifer gasped. "You can't!"

"Little girl, don't presume you can take that tone with me. Yes, I can and I will, and once it's done, there's no way to undo it."

Before Jennifer could move, Malveenya started to raise her arm, but then stopped of her own accord. "No, wait," she said, and Jennifer breathed a sigh of relief.

Malveenya continued in a friendly voice. "Norman, would you mind moving a little bit to the side? I don't want you ruining the table."

Norman stared at her blankly for a second. Whatever his plan was, Jennifer realized, it couldn't work if she didn't know it. She'd have to rely on herself.

Malveenya was still trying to gesture him away from the table when, in one movement, Jennifer rubbed the magic bottle and pulled it from her pocket.

The enchantress hissed softly as the jinni materialized. He bowed wordlessly, first to Jennifer and then to Norman, his gold jewelry jingling reassuringly.

"I have a question," Jennifer said. She glanced at Norman. She was going to give him an encouraging smile to say she knew what she was doing, but on second thought realized she didn't. "Could you carry me and Norman and Alexander to the other side of the forest wall and out of Malveenya's range of power?"

"Assuredly," the jinni answered.

"But Alexander would still be asleep," Malveenya pointed out hastily. "Unless, of course, that isn't important to you."

Of course it was. Despite everything, it still was. Jennifer tried a new approach. "You said you aren't allowed to harm anyone."

"That is correct."

"Directly?"

The jinni hesitated. "Directly?" he repeated.

"If I asked you for..." her mind groped.
"well, say for twenty fine white horses. Could you give me that?"

The jinni was obviously confused, but he nodded.

"Sam, who sells horses back home, has only three or four very old mares. If I had twenty fine white horses to sell, that would drive Sam out of business."

"Ah!" the jinni said, his eyes sparkling.

"So actually my wish would harm Sam. Could you still grant it?"

"Sam would be harmed indirectly. I could grant your wish."

Jennifer nodded and pointed to a spot above Malveenya's head. "If I asked you to make that section of the ceiling fall this very second, could you?"

"Most swiftly."

Malveenya took a hurried step behind the table.

"If I asked you to make that table burst into flame, could you do that?"

The jinni nodded and Malveenya stepped closer to Alexander, where she felt Jennifer would be less likely to try something drastic. "Ah, little Miss Goody-Goody demonstrates her true character at last," Malveenya purred.

"What?" Jennifer said.

"Thought you were so good and pure of heart and better than me, didn't you? But see what happens when you get a little power."

"I'm just trying to protect myself," Jennifer objected.

Malveenya was smirking. "It always happens. Once you have the power to force people to do your will, there's no stopping you from using that power more and more." She was swirling her white dress in a seemingly absent manner to hide a little step in Jennifer's direction.

"That's not so!" Jennifer said. "If you just leave us alone, I won't use any power at all!"

"Careful," Norman warned. "Don't let her touch the bottle."

Malveenya ignored him and smiled at Jennifer in open disbelief.

"It's true!" Jennifer said. "I don't want to hurt anyone."

"Is that why you're threatening me?" Malveenya moved closer.

Jennifer darted a look at Norman. He obviously was assuming she had a plan and she didn't dare ask for his help with Malveenya so close. She took a step back and felt the wall behind her.

At that moment she knew that if she didn't make a wish immediately—one that would stop Malveenya right then—the enchantress would grab the magic bottle away and thereby increase her already vast powers. At the same moment, she also knew that even if the jinni could harm someone indirectly, she couldn't. She and Norman and Alexander were all doomed.

Norman, suddenly realizing what was happening, called her name.

Malveenya saw the girl's mouth start to
form a wish. She didn't know that it was a desperate wish, one meant to find a single strand of goodness in a hopeless situation. She only knew that there was no time to grab the bottle away and that she had to touch it quickly and—since there was no way to tell what Jennifer would ask for—that she must protect herself on all fronts.

"I wish to live forever!" Malveenya cried, while, at the exact same moment, Jennifer said, "
1
wish for the jinni's freedom from the bottle so he can do whatever he wants."

Instantly the jinni disappeared into a reddish cloud that somehow seemed to carry with it the smell of salt water and the faint cry of seagulls. Before anybody could be sure of this, however, he was gone.

There was another cloud in the room, but this one was glittering white and it floated exactly where Malveenya had been standing. With a soft sigh, it was sucked into the magic bottle, which grew warm in Jennifer's hand.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw
Kreech's form quiver as Malveenya's power disappeared. In the same instant that he regained his enormous wings, he sped out the open window. The next moment his wild scream of triumph reached them, but by then he was gone.

N
UMBLY, JENNIFER PLACED
the magic bottle on the little shelf underneath the mirror. She saw without really noticing that the mirror's surface had become dull and clouded, as if it reflected a thick, empty fog. When Malveenya unintentionally traded places with the jinni, the mirror had become powerless.

Jennifer sighed and glanced around. "What now?" she asked.

Norman shook his head and knelt beside the sleeping prince. Alexander was still breath
ing but showed no signs of coming out of the spell.

"I don't know," the sorcerer whispered. "I don't know."

Jennifer ran her hand across Alexander's face and traced his lips with her fingertip. A tear ran down her cheek and fell onto Alexander's. If anything, the eyes seemed more tightly shut than she had remembered. She was thinking of Malveenya's words on sleeping forever. Norman knew the way out of the forest, but she couldn't just abandon poor, silly Alexander. She imagined the years to come: the forest slowly engulfing the house, vines pushing through the windows and under the doors, and she herself—white-haired and bent with age—dusting off an unchanged Alexander—forever young, forever handsome, but never able to laugh or smile again.

Jennifer tried to stop herself from thinking like this, but was unable to. Another tear fell on Alexander's face. The mouth, so warm and pink, almost seemed to move.

The answer was in her, but she couldn't find it.

Norman held her hand and tried to think of something to say.

Jennifer began to sob out loud. Her tear-filled eyes brimmed over—and the prince's nose seemed to twitch.

She threw herself across his chest, weeping uncontrollably. The prince gave a decided sneeze.

Jennifer immediately straightened.

Alexander's hand came up and rubbed his face. "Tickling," he muttered.

"What?" Jennifer said.

"Your hair is tickling me," the prince answered, rolling over and reaching for a blanket. When he couldn't find one, his eyes slowly opened and he looked at Jennifer.

"Yech!" he said, wiping his dampened face. "You've been crying all over me. And what happened to you? You look a mess!'

She started to apologize but trailed off.

Alexander sat up. "Hey, what's been going
on, anyway?" he said, trying to pull half-remembered events back together again. "The mirror ... I couldn't see..." He stood up and rubbed his chest. "I feel like someone's been sitting on me," he muttered to himself. Then, seeing Norman for the first time, he said, "Who's the old geezer? And
what
have you done to my mirror?"

Norman stood up and patted Alexander on the shoulder. "So nice to finally meet you," he said. "Although I must say I liked you better asleep."

"I beg your pardon," Alexander said icily. "But do you have any idea to whom you are speaking? My father, the king—"

"Your father, the king, has an idiot for a son."

Before Alexander could protest, Norman gave a brief, but vivid, description of Jennifer's adventures with Malveenya.

"You did that for me?" Alexander asked her.

She nodded.

"But why?"

"I couldn't just leave you."

"No, that's true," Alexander agreed. He looked at her in silence for several seconds, then began pacing about the cottage.

Now Alexander may have had some faults, but he did know the rules of chivalry and he realized that he owed Jennifer his life. After only a brief delay, he cleared his throat. "Of course, we need to give you a suitable reward," he started. He cleared his throat again. "You're not married or engaged or anything?" He couldn't remember if she had ever mentioned this.

Jennifer shook her head.

"Would you like to marry me?" he asked.

"No. Thank you."

"My father, the king, will give us one of his castles on the..." The prince's voice died off and he scratched the back of his neck. He looked at her with a puzzled expression in his clear blue eyes. "Did I hear you say...?" He hesitated because he was sure he had heard
wrong and he didn't want to make himself look silly. "Did I hear you say, 'No'?"

"Yes, you did," Jennifer said.

Norman, sitting on the window seat, trying to make himself unobtrusive, dropped all pretense of not listening.

"It's very kind of you to offer," Jennifer told Alexander. "But it's unnecessary."

"Of course it's
unnecessary,
" Alexander said, "but I'm still asking you."

"No." She was surprising herself, the words coming out before she knew what they would be. "You'll always be a very special friend, but I don't want to marry you."

Alexander shook his head in confusion. No one had ever said no to him before, but on the other hand, he didn't really want to marry Jennifer either; so he didn't know what to do. Deciding this needed thinking over, he went outside to sit on the chopping block, where he could be alone.